Chinese medicine health care, medicine and food diet

Chinese medicine health care refers to a medical activity that uses various methods to nourish life, strengthen physical fitness, prevent diseases, and thus achieve longevity. Chinese medicine health care focuses on integrity and systematization, and its purpose is to prevent diseases and treat them before they occur. The famous representative work of Chinese medicine theory is "Huangdi Neijing".

On June 7, 2008, Chinese medicine health care was approved by the State Council to be included in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage list.

The origin of Chinese medicine can be traced back to three tribal leaders in the Yangshao culture period (4354-3579 BC) and the Longshan culture period (2697-2015 BC) in ancient China, namely Fuxi, also known as Xihuang, Shennong (Yandi), also known as Nonghuang, and Xuanyuan Huangdi, the tribal leader in the Longshan culture period.

In ancient Chinese medical books, Huangdi is regarded as the founder of Chinese medicine, Shennong is the ancestor of Chinese medicine, and Fuxi is closely related to acupuncture and moxibustion. As early as the end of primitive society, the prototype of Chinese medicine had appeared, but due to the lack of written records, with archaeological discoveries of China's civilization, we can understand it through Chinese classics' legends, such as "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs", "Fuxi made nine needles" and "Qihuang's art". According to the "Book of Han•Yiwenzhi", moxibustion, acupuncture and decoction are the three basic treatment methods of Chinese medicine. Moxibustion originated from the application of fire, acupuncture is related to the use of stone tools, and decoction was discovered by chance in the process of looking for food.

Chinese traditional medicine health care methods are diverse, which can be roughly divided into five categories: food, medicinal food, acupuncture, massage, and qigong. In addition, there are psychological health care methods.

For thousands of years, healthy food and balanced diet have been recognized as the key factors to achieve longevity, and unreasonable eating habits are considered to be the root cause of health problems. Disease prevention is also an important part of health care. Through regular exercise, correct use of drugs, appropriate food supplements, and other activities that are beneficial to health, everyone can achieve the goal of strengthening the body and delaying aging.

According to Chinese traditional medicine, Medicine and food have the same origin.

As early as the primitive society, people discovered the nature, taste and efficacy of food and medicine in the process of searching for food, and realized that many foods can be used as medicines and many medicines can be eaten, and it is difficult to strictly distinguish between the two.

The food humans take comes from animals, plants and minerals in nature, and Chinese medicine is mostly natural medicine, including plants, animals and minerals. Therefore, Chinese medicine and food have the same origin, which is the so-called "medicine and food have the same origin".

The "Huangdi Neijing Taisu" in the Tang Dynasty recorded: "Eating it on an empty stomach is food, and eating it with patients is medicine", reflecting the idea of ​​"medicine and food have the same origin".

"Huainanzi Xiuwu Xun" said: "Shennong tasted the flavors of hundreds of herbs and the sweetness and bitterness of springs, so that people knew what to avoid. At this time, he encountered seventy poisons in one day." It can be seen that during the Shennong period, medicine and food were not distinguished, non-toxic ones could be taken, and poisonous ones were avoided.

However, with the accumulation of experience, medicine and food began to differentiate. Those that can cure diseases are called "medicine", and those that are only used for eating are called "food". However, most foods have both functions, which is called "dual use of medicine and food". For example, yam, lily, jujube, lotus seeds, wolfberry, mulberry, hawthorn, longan, kudzu, black sesame, coriander, ginger, etc. They are both Chinese medicines with good therapeutic effects and nutritious foods that people often eat.

Because "medicine can be food, and food can also be medicine", there is often no clear boundary between medicine and food, but the relationship between the two is very close.

In traditional Chinese medicine, both Chinese medicine and food have the function of preventing and curing diseases, but the therapeutic effects are not the same. The therapeutic effect of Chinese medicine (medicine that cannot be used as food) is more prominent and the efficacy is stronger, but the side effects are also greater. If the medicine is used improperly, it is more likely to have more obvious side effects; the therapeutic effect of food (food with medicinal properties, that is, "dual-purpose medicine and food") is not as prominent as the efficacy of medicine, but the effect is milder. If the food is not properly matched, there will be no immediate adverse reactions and the side effects are small.

Chinese medicine has had the theory of "medicine and food have the same origin" since ancient times. With the improvement of people's living standards and quality of life, the Chinese medicine health-preserving method of "medicine and food have the same origin" has gradually gained popularity and has been used as a health-preserving concept for disease prevention and treatment, and applied to the ranks of health-preserving foods.

The concept of "medicine food homology" (药食同源) in China refers to natural ingredients that serve both medicinal and culinary purposes, recognized for their safety and health benefits. Governed by the National Health Commission (NHC), the official list has expanded over time, now encompassing 110 items as of recent updates. This expansion reflects efforts to integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) into daily wellness and dietary practices.

Examples of Ingredients (Categorized):

• Herbs/Spices: Ginger, cinnamon (rougui), mint, astragalus (huangqi), licorice root (gancao).
• Fruits/Seeds: Goji berries (gouqizi), jujube dates (dazao), hawthorn (shanzha), lotus seeds (lianzi), longan (longyanrou).
• Fungi/Vegetables: Shiitake mushroom (xianggu), white fungus (yin'er), Chinese yam (shanyao), lily bulb (baihe).
• Grains/Nuts: Coix seed (yiyiren), sesame seeds (heizhima), almonds (xingren).
• Others: Honeysuckle (jinyinhua, for tea), chrysanthemum (juhua, used in infusions), mulberry (sangshen).

The complete catalog is available through official NHC publications or provincial health authority websites. The inclusion of new items often involves rigorous assessment of their historical use and scientific evidence.

This initiative underscores China's commitment to preserving traditional practices while fostering public health through diet, aligning with global trends toward functional foods and integrative medicine.

古药有新解 专家用科学解释古代中医药！

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